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World of SportDiscuss all other sport. Includes betting and gambling threads.

Dozens of Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, including at least 15 medal winners, were part of a state-run doping program, meticulously planned for years to ensure dominance at the Games, according to the director of the country’s antidoping laboratory at the time.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die, to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end

Singling out one country smacks of bias though. Not saying that they are innocent but its not just them at it. In cycling they are all at it. Should every country be banned?

Think you have to try to address it where you find it. Spain has a massive issue and they did try and do something about it and found too many skeletons in the cupboard across all sports and have painted themselves in to a ridiculous corner and have been doing all sorts of ridiculous things. It's the doping capital of europe.

I don't think it's a bias thing really. Certain things will surprise you, for example the country that has probably done most to tackle doping and corruption through various institutions primaily in cycling is Italy.

You'd also be surprised at who russian cycling are allied up with in the political landscape.

Think you have to try to address it where you find it. Spain has a massive issue and they did try and do something about it and found too many skeletons in the cupboard across all sports and have painted themselves in to a ridiculous corner and have been doing all sorts of ridiculous things. It's the doping capital of europe.

I don't think it's a bias thing really. Certain things will surprise you, for example the country that has probably done most to tackle doping and corruption through various institutions primaily in cycling is Italy.

You'd also be surprised at who russian cycling are allied up with in the political landscape.

Yeah, its clearly endemic in certain sports, athletics and cycling being 2 of them. I remember China being singled out in a similar way a few years ago. Didn't know about the Spanish situation, no doubt their smear campaign is just around the corner. What sort of ridiculous things?

Yeah, its clearly endemic in certain sports, athletics and cycling being 2 of them. I remember China being singled out in a similar way a few years ago. Didn't know about the Spanish situation, no doubt their smear campaign is just around the corner. What sort of ridiculous things?

This is the central thing in Spain - To view the link you have to Register or Login

It continues to roll on. A judge tried to have all the evidence destroyed - that's how much big institutional interests are involved. Fuentes continues to insist he has a lot of names. Think of large spanish football clubs and tennis players.

There's a lot of other little things, one that sticks in my mind is the way that the spanish anti-doping flip-flopped about with Contador's ban publicly trying to offer compromise agreements which was pathetic even in a capacity of trying to cover things up. There's also an attitude among cyclists and others that spain is a bit of a doping sandpit.

This is the central thing in Spain - To view the link you have to Register or Login

It continues to roll on. A judge tried to have all the evidence destroyed - that's how much big institutional interests are involved. Fuentes continues to insist he has a lot of names. Think of large spanish football clubs and tennis players.

There's a lot of other little things, one that sticks in my mind is the way that the spanish anti-doping flip-flopped about with Contador's ban publicly trying to offer compromise agreements which was pathetic even in a capacity of trying to cover things up. There's also an attitude among cyclists and others that spain is a bit of a doping sandpit.

Wow that seems pretty big. I found this bit interesting, more like biology than doping though (apart from the erythropoietin):

After studying the Barcelona lab's report, El Mundo described Fuentes's program as: riders would visit Fuentes a few weeks before a race and have blood removed. Fuentes would run the blood through a centrifuge, separating the blood plasma from the red blood cells. The cells would be re-injected shortly before competition, boosting resistance to fatigue. If haematocrit levels (volume of red blood cells) got dangerously high, they would re-inject plasma as well, enhanced with EPO, to dilute the red blood cells and avoid detection.

The Barcelona lab did not identify any athlete responsible for any of the 99 tested bags of blood.

The real question is how has football, the most popular and richest sport in the world, a sport that puts massive physical workload on its players pretty much year round for elite players, never had a much of a doping issue?

Do people really believe that it is remotely likely that soccer, despite the massively massive financial incentives to dope, and where doping isn't taken terribly seriously, has a tiny number of actual dopers?

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The Defector looks like no other breaking pitch in the game. It is well-supinated, leaving the right hand of Fernandez at a fastball trajectory before the laws of physics cease to apply and the laws of awesome take over.

The real question is how has football, the most popular and richest sport in the world, a sport that puts massive physical workload on its players pretty much year round for elite players, never had a much of a doping issue?

Do people really believe that it is remotely likely that soccer, despite the massively massive financial incentives to dope, and where doping isn't taken terribly seriously, has a tiny number of actual dopers?

It was endemic in Italy till the late 90s and enough gossip about Spain.

Basically a question of desire. Do the football authorities want to blow the lid on it? Or do we do it baseball style and just know it's there but hey ho.

The real question is how has football, the most popular and richest sport in the world, a sport that puts massive physical workload on its players pretty much year round for elite players, never had a much of a doping issue?

Do people really believe that it is remotely likely that soccer, despite the massively massive financial incentives to dope, and where doping isn't taken terribly seriously, has a tiny number of actual dopers?

You would think so. Footballers are so thick though, and have a big spotlight on them. I can't believe they could keep a lid on it all.

What is more interesting is that the issue never seems to be discussed by the press.

As an aside - you are a baseball expert. Why has there been a lot of discussion about doping in baseball and the big hitters through time and yet basketball and American football seem to slip through the net.

It was endemic in Italy till the late 90s and enough gossip about Spain.

Basically a question of desire. Do the football authorities want to blow the lid on it? Or do we do it baseball style and just know it's there but hey ho.

Interesting question.

Seems some sports are happy to blow the whistle whereas others want to suppress everything in case their product gets tainted. Probably easier if a nation can get smeared, especially when they are all better than you, with or without doping, because of thorough training since children.